Arlington High School has always shown great pride in the diversity that exists at the school. One of the most common ways to show this diversity is through the school’s extracurricular activities, more specifically the clubs offered at Arlington High. Arlington High offers more than 20 extracurricular clubs. These clubs range from world languages to robotics, and so much more.

However, some may find it difficult to choose between such a variety. Essentially, many struggle to determine what club is best for them and how to truly commit. With all the various clubs at Arlington High, there is surely an extracurricular activity for everyone. All it takes is the determination to find the one that truly fits you best.

JJ Haldeman (’16) is a senior  at AHS and is involved in National Honor Society (NHS). Haldeman decided to commit to NHS because “It allows me to take on a bigger role in the community. Whether it be tutoring kids or volunteering at local charities, it just feels good to give back to the community. I also chose NHS because it looks really good on college applications, but more importantly I like the idea of being able to give back.”

There are numerous reasons to get involved in clubs. Some do it out of passion, others do it for credit. Yet that doesn’t even scratch the surface. All it takes is for you to find even the slightest reason to join and take a chance.

Although it may be easy to sign up to join a club, there is a significant difference between joining a club and committing to one. Commitment is often the reason people drop out of clubs. Whether it be that they feel they cannot commit, or they feel other members will not commit.

Take Kayla Arnesen (’17) for example. When she joined respect club, she felt uneasy about joining because she was unsure she could fully commit due to her schedule. “The true way to commit is by putting other people’s needs before your own to reach a common goal. For Respect Team, that is helping others. Me personally, I try and volunteer for everything I can, and if I can’t then I try to make it up to them in some way. Committing is caring, and if you show that you care then you’re not only committing to your team, but also yourself.”

Commitment is not only evident to club members, but also to the club adviser. Ms. Strickland, the respect team adviser, shared her observations of commitment. “When I started I had a very committed small group of freshman and they had to fully commit because of how little people we had. As the club has grown in the past two or three years, that commitment has kind of shifted in a way to help grow the club. We typically find that we have people who show up for only the first few meetings, no more. Here at AHS we don’t have requirements to get into respect club. In the middle schools however, the respect clubs were teacher approval only. Because of that, we’ve grown much more rapidly. As to the commitment piece, that would be our events that we do. We put on a bunch of events like food drives, special education prom, etc. The club members have to show their commitment through these events by volunteering for the events and really helping out.”

In today’s society, commitment often scares people. However, commitment is truly a subtle ideal. For example, simply showing up and getting involved in your club is a commitment in itself. With the great variety of clubs and organizations Arlington High School provides, there is no better place to get involved and show your commitment.